University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2003 Sing Wis, Ya Wis: what is past is past. Forgetting what it was to remember the Indonesian killings of 1965 Robert W. Goodfellow University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Goodfellow, Robert W., Sing Wis, Ya Wis: what is past is past. Forgetting what it was to remember the Indonesian killings of 1965, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Department of History, University of Wollongong, 2003. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1425 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library:
[email protected] Sing Wis^ Ya Wis: What is Past is Past. Forgetting what it was to Remember The Indonesian Killings of 1965 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG Robert W. Goodfellow BA (hons) DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 2003 Ul Synopsis The personal trauma associated with the intense violence that engulfed Indonesia between October and December 1965 is not enough to explain how an open and documented history of the killings was silenced for over 33 years. Likewise, the New Order government's political and military power to suppress competing historical accounts cannot fully elucidate this enduring silence. History is a story about who controls the means of historical consciousness as well as the production of narratives. Therefore, part of the answer of what enabled the forgetting of the Indonesian killings can be found in an examination of the Suharto regime's propaganda project.